The present invention relates to a reduced size apparatus and method for shredding and dispersing large rectangular bales of vegetation, including hay, straw or any other material suitable for mulch overlays in order to prevent the erosion of recently excavated soil and to expedite the germination of grass. More specifically, this invention is a self loading, hydraulically driven attachment for skid steer front end loaders that can accommodate and shred the labor saving, large rectangular bales of vegetation. Until now, large rectangular bale mulching and dispersal equipment such as those shown in the prior art have been much larger and, therefore, have represented a substantial investment for a landscaping company. This investment could only be made by larger landscaping companies that performed enough mulching jobs to justify the cost of the equipment. The present invention allows smaller landscaping companies to own or economically lease a skid steer front end loader which can now be adapted for mulch dispersal.
Skid steer front end loaders are sold by many of the larger equipment companies and have become very popular within the landscaping industry. They have become popular for two main reasons: (1) they are small enough to get into tight places and (2) they have an industry standard, quick disconnect, mounting plate for specialized attachments. Skid steer front end loaders also have an industry standard auxiliary hydraulic system interface built into them to drive any of the specialized attachments that would require power. By using specialized attachments skid steer loaders become very economical because one machine can perform many functions. Until now there have been no commercially available mulch shredding and dispersal attachments for skid steer front end loaders, let alone an attachment that can load a large rectangular bale onto itself and then shred and disperse it. A large rectangular bale shredding and dispersal attachment for the popular skid steer loaders will present a lucrative new opportunity for smaller landscaping companies.
Machines designed for the landscaping industry that shred, and disperse large, rectangular vegetation bales are common in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,036,757 to the present inventor; 6,572,039 to Kruer; and 5,505,391 to Krueger all teach relatively large pieces of equipment that shred and disperse vegetation. All of these machines cited as prior art require a separate machine to pick up, move, and place the large rectangular bales. Also a common feature of the machines in the prior art is they all require their own engine to power them.
The present invention is capable of loading itself so a separate bale handling machine is not needed and since the present invention is powered by the auxiliary hydraulic system of the skid steer loader, a separate engine is not needed. It should also be noted that the skid steer loader equipped with the present invention requires only one person to operate. All the mechanisms noted in the prior art require a minimum of two people.